


The Bones

by morningssofgold



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-24 20:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22164190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningssofgold/pseuds/morningssofgold
Summary: Malcolm remembered falling apart on the precinct floor, surrounded by old case files. Feeling hopeless. Feeling like that nothing he did would ever be good enough. Feeling likehewould never be good enough. But Dani had been there. She’d believed in him when he hadn’t been able to believe in himself. Malcolm had spent his entire life feeling cursed as though he were constantly repenting for having the immense misfortune of being sired by The Surgeon but on today, he realized that he must’ve done something right.You are cordially invited to the wedding of Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell -A multi-chaptered fic
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 16
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [In A Bind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929164) by [morningssofgold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningssofgold/pseuds/morningssofgold). 



“Dani! Hey,” Ainsley said, excitedly waving her brother’s fiancée over. Pressing a venti cup of coffee into the taller woman’s hands before they went into the atelier for Dani’s fourth and final wedding dress fitting.

Dani smiled warmly in greeting, her voluminous dark curls windswept and her cheeks rosy from the cold. Her brother’s fiancée was the type of woman who got out of bed looking flawless and if Ainsley didn’t like her so much, she’d probably hate her for it and though the Bronx born detective was pretty reserved in nature, Ainsely was happy that Dani had warmed up to her over their time spent together. Ainsley had even managed to get a few Sunday Fundays out of her where Dani actually appeared to have enjoyed herself.

“Where’s your mom?” Dani looked around and didn’t see the Whitly elder anywhere.

Ainsley smirked, “You’re stuck with me today. I convinced Her Highness to sit this one out.” 

The visible relief on Dani’s face didn’t escape Ainsley’s notice. Both she and Malcolm were used to their mother being their mother but Dani wasn’t and Ainsley had taken it upon herself to make sure the entire proceeding didn’t go off the rails when Jessica’s “small suggestions” became large orders. Malcolm had looked out for her when they were kids and this was her way of returning the favor. Looking out for the woman her brother absolutely adored.

Dani was the calmest person Ainsley had ever met, the perfect antidote for her brother’s bouts of mania but even she started to look visibly frustrated when Jessica started to nitpick as only Jessica Whitly could. Ainsley knew that her mother and almost sister-in-law had something of an uneasy if not awkward alliance. Ainsley also knew that if her mother upset her brother’s fiancée in any way, all hell would break loose. Malcolm was unflappably easygoing except when it came to Dani.

All three Whitlys getting along was akin to teetering on a knife’s point. The slightest thing could send them all careening toward acrimony and Ainsley was determined to not allow her brother’s wedding to end up like so many Whitly family events before it.

“Ainsley, thanks,” Dani said, turning to her, taking a sip of coffee, warmth illuminating her brown eyes. “You’ve been really nice to me from the beginning and you didn’t have to be. You know, an outsider coming into your family like this.”

Ainsley frowned at the word _outsider_ , she knew that word choice had everything to do with her mother. She and nearly everyone else at the gala had witnessed the scene Jessica caused when Malcolm introduced Dani to her for the first time–as his fiancée. 

Springing that on their mother in that way had been a terrible idea, something _she_ could’ve told her brother had he gone to her first but Ainsley honestly couldn’t blame Malcolm from wanting to shield Dani from what was inevitable Whitly family insanity. She honestly would’ve done the same if she had someone in her life she felt that strong about.

That said, Ainsley knew how awkward that meeting had to have been for Dani and Ainsley also knew her mother’s cold reception must’ve hurt. 

Not wanting this day to start off on a sad note, Ainsley companionably linked her arm through her soon to be sister-in-law’s, “Don’t mention it. I mean, you didn’t have to be nice to me either. I know you saw _the interview_.”

In hindsight, the interview with The Surgeon–she and Malcolm’s father–hadn’t been her finest moment and Ainsley knew the impression she’d made before Dani had even met her hadn’t been a good one and Dani’s loyalty lied with Malcolm first and foremost. Ainsley wouldn’t have blamed Dani for giving her the cold shoulder upon meeting her but she didn’t. Dani had treated her kindly and Ainsley did the same not just for her brother’s sake but because it was the right thing to do. 

The Whitlys weren’t above stabbing each other in the back but they also weren’t above closing ranks when they had to. Moreover, the moment Ainsley saw her brother shooting heart-eyes at Dani even though they were less than two feet apart, she knew that the model-esque cop had become her family.

–––––––––––––––––

Having to suffer being poked and prodded for the fourth time as her measurements were taken and then retaken was worth it when she saw herself in _the dress_. Dani remembered walking into the designer’s showroom or _atelier_ as it was called and seeing it on the mannequin. Apparently, it was the showpiece of the current collection and Dani could understand why. 

In her mind, beautiful didn’t even begin to describe it. This dress was so unlike anything she’d ever worn before, so unlike anything she’d normally choose for herself. Dani preferred simple, timeless silhouettes. She didn’t like lots of drama and excess but seeing this particular dress awoke every fantasy her nine year old self had of what she’d look like on her future wedding day. That nine year old girl had become silenced over time. That little girl had foolish, romantic notions–things she couldn’t afford to have if she wanted to survive. 

The dress was the absolute palest blush color with a full ballgown silhouette. The textured bodice had an off the shoulder, sweetheart neckline that dipped low in the back and it expanded into a full skirt with layers upon layers of endless silk roses, a long gauzy train trailing after it. A frothy, updated take on the designer’s iconic “Sunday Rose” design–or so she had been told. 

Dani remembered how Jessica Whitly’s lips had flattened into a tight line at the fact that the dress wasn’t white but Malcolm’s mother couldn’t ruin her enthusiasm. Looking at herself in the full length mirror for the first time, she’d felt like a princess, something she couldn’t ever recall feeling. Not a girl from Highbridge. Not a girl who had to fight everyday for everything she had.

“ _Oh my God!_ ” Ainsley breathed, careful not the spill the complementary Champagne on her expensive wool skirt. “My brother will absolutely die when he sees you.”

“You think?” Dani asked, just as one of the assistants gently placed the matching veil on top of her curls, spreading it out around her so that the silk roses sewn onto it, blended in with the ones on the dress. She tried not to become emotional over her disbelief that all of this was actually happening. That in a few weeks, she’d be walking down the aisle in a couture wedding dress to meet the man she hadn’t even realized she had been waiting for. The man who had literally tackled her in the middle of the police station on the first day they’d met.

“ _I know!_ ” 

–––––––––––––––––––––

Malcolm watched as Dani flopped face down on the bed next to him, stepping over the restraints on the floor. Those didn’t get used quite as much as they used to–which had been everyday. He remembered his hesitation at sleeping beside her without them. His night terrors were so strong that he’d actually flung himself out of a window once. More than that, he’d nearly cut a date–who had unfortunately for her decided to stay the night–to ribbons as a result of one of his hallucinations. Malcolm thought he was dangerous and unstable. He knew he would never forgive himself if he hurt Dani in any way. If he made her look at him like the monster he’d always thought he was inside.

The first time Dani slept beside him, he didn’t wear the restraints. That night had been so emotionally draining, all he wanted was to feel comfort and he selfishly decided to allow himself that. It was the best sleep he’d ever had, even better than the time Dani had slugged him unconscious. 

Malcolm awoke to Dani’s arms wrapped around him, his face buried in the crook of her neck, feeling as safe and secure as he could ever remember. He had been a little embarrassed that he’d more or less turned himself into a weighted blanket as he realized that at some point during the night, one of his hands had found its way to her neck–his fingers at her pulse–with one of his legs hitched over her hip. 

Even though nothing happened then, Malcolm didn’t trust that something wouldn’t happen later.

Cutting off his protests, running her fingertips along his stubbled jawline, Dani had reminded him that trust was a two-way street. Dani trusted him and that meant that he had to trust her too. Malcolm had to trust that she could handle him even though he hadn’t been able to handle himself most days. 

Malcolm had given her that much because he would give Dani anything she asked for but he couldn’t help but feel immensely guilty when he did wake her in the early morning hours, whimpering, violently thrashing about after seeing some newly unearthed horror playing on endless loop in his head–courtesy of his father or Lazar or both. 

As always when the night terrors got to him, Malcolm never saw anything except compassion and love shining through her beautiful brown eyes. Dani would then wrap an arm around him and softly trace small circles on his back. She would tell him that he was safe, that she was here and no, she didn’t think less of him. She would help him into his restraints, just as she did the very first time.

–––––––––––––––

Malcolm smiled a bit as he returned to the present, knowing that Dani’s exasperated reaction had a lot to do with wedding planning. Something his mother had long stopped trying to involve him in after his less than enthusiastic showing at the wedding cake tasting. Apparently, “It all tastes the same” was the wrong thing to say in the presence of the most famous pastry chef in New York.

“Is my mother trying to run off my fiancée again?” He asked amusedly. Dani sat up, taking off her red soled pointed toe stiletto heels–something he’d purchased for her at one point though he couldn’t exactly remember when and for what reason. She wiggled her burgundy painted toes before scooting closer to him, resting her head on the pillow beside him. 

Malcolm noticed Dani’s ankle length black cigarette pants and form fitting black turtleneck sweater. She always tended to dress up more when she was in the presence of his mother. He frowned a little. Dani was beautiful–distractingly so–in her high waisted jeans and leather jackets. She was even more beautiful in his pajama pants and old shirts. To him, she had nothing to prove to anyone. He hoped she knew that.

Dani snorted, “Not this time. Though if I have to go to one more dress fitting, it just might work.” 

Reaching out, Malcolm’s tremor-less hand stroked her hair. He wrapped one of her curls around his finger, gently pulling it taught and watching it spring back into place. “There’s always Vegas,” he smirked.

As tempting as that sounded, Dani already felt like she was on thin ice in this family. If she denied Jessica Whitly her opportunity to compete with the House of Windsor by throwing the wedding of the century, she might end up finding out exactly why murder was the family business.

“You’d get married in Vegas?” Dani tried to imagine her posh fiancé in a tacky Vegas wedding chapel. She couldn’t.

Malcolm’s lips quirked up, that impish look in his nearly translucent blue eyes never failed to make her heart beat in double time, “I’d marry you anywhere.” 

Dani groaned, “Stop doing that.” Malcolm made her so soft, she couldn’t stand it. She didn’t even have to look at him to know that he was well aware of it and his annoying smirk only grew.

“Doing what?” Malcolm asked, feigning bewilderment.

She rolled over, glaring at him though her heart obviously wasn’t in it, “Stop making me feel like I’m living some damn fairytale.”

Malcolm scoffed, “I am _not_ Prince Charming. Prince Hamlet, on the other hand…” Dani rolled her eyes at her fiancé’s inability to take a complement. “Death and daddy issues…got a lot of that.”

Rolling over further so that she straddled his hips, Dani smirked at the the surprise in Malcolm’s ice blue eyes at her uncharacteristic playfulness. She pinned his arms above his head. “And yet here we are,” she whispered against his lips, coming inches from kissing him fully, then pulling back with a cackle before Malcolm could process what was happening or what was _not_ about to happen as it were. 

Dani fluidly hopped off of him, sprinting towards the shower, unable to contain her giggles at her fiancé’s dazed, hooded-eyed look.

“Sorry, Bright! I owe you one though.” 

Dani’s triumph was short-lived as Malcolm was too fast for her, elbowing his way into bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Malcolm grinned at her cheekily, the look in his ice blue eyes letting her know that she had _most definitely_ miscalculated, “Oh, I know you do and Detective Powell, I always collect.”

–––––––––––––––––––––

Malcolm adjusted his navy windowpane vest before slipping on his suit coat. He wore far more layers that Dani did but somehow always managed to get ready first. It was the day of their wedding rehearsal before the dinner later that night.

At the end of dinner they would split, Dani would be in a suite at the Four Seasons in Midtown along with his mother and sister and he would be coming back to his apartment in Tribeca. JT had offered to throw him a bachelor party in which he politely declined. Malcolm remembered the last time he found himself in a nightclub. It didn’t go well. 

Malcolm would likely spend the night going over case files as opposed to sleeping. Sleeping without Dani wasn’t something he was able to do. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to, he physically couldn’t. Her light Dove soap scent and warmth relaxed him like nothing else. He could always put one of her shirts underneath his pillow but he decided that would be a little sad, even for him.

It was strange, Malcolm had always thought of himself as being pretty independent. He did as he pleased and didn’t rely much on others but the idea of being in the apartment without Dani after months of her constant presence unnerved him. Malcolm shook his head. He wouldn’t behave like a child and beg his mother to let him stay with Dani. He wouldn’t even beg Dani to slip him a room key, though the thought did cross his mind.

Malcolm went over to the mirror where Dani was putting the finishes touches on her makeup. She looked stunning in a sleeveless navy sheath dress. It was his mother’s idea–order–that the two of them match for their wedding rehearsal and dinner. Her dark hair was done up in the pineapple style he liked. Her curls were piled up on the top of her head, falling forward over her forehead. Her only accessories were the delicate gold necklace she always wore, nestled in the hollow of her throat and her engagement ring. The large cushion-cut diamond catching the light from the window. 

Though her face betrayed nothing, he noticed Dani running her hands up and down her dress. A sure sign of nerves.

“Look at us,” Malcolm said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin in the crook of her neck. His hands covering hers.

Dani smiled a bit at their reflection in the mirror though it didn’t quite meet her eyes. She’d often heard that they were something of an odd couple: the hard-nosed Bronx detective and the troubled Park Avenue prince but seeing the two of them together like this in their elegant coordinated outfits, they looked as though they belonged together. 

_Mrs. Danika Bright_ , she thought to herself. Now she at least looked the part.

––––––––––––––

“What’s wrong?” Malcolm knew Dani hated when he profiled her but he didn’t have to be a profiler to know something was wrong. He knew it just because he knew her. Something was upsetting her. He could see it in her deep brown eyes. He could feel it in the stiffness of her posture. Dani had enough sadness and hardship throughout her life and Malcolm certainly didn’t want to be the cause of it. In fact, he’d do anything to prevent it. 

“Nothing. Let’s get to the church, everyone’s waiting for us,” Dani said quickly, turning around in his arms, forcing a smile. 

His mother had managed to book St. Patrick’s Cathedral for their ceremony. He and Ainsley’s grandparents were Catholic. Malcolm couldn’t remember the last time he had been inside of a church for reasons that had nothing to do with work, even though he certainly had his fair share of sins to confess. To be perfectly honest, Malcolm was surprised anyone would ever allow the Whitys on sacred ground to begin with.

“Dani, they can’t exactly start without us,” Malcolm said gently, pulling her closer.

He relaxed a bit when her arms automatically wrapped around his neck. Though he still didn’t like the “everything’s fine” mask she wore. He was the one who wore masks not her. She had never hid from him before and he didn’t want her to start doing that now, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing, Bright. Really, we’re good.”

He quirked an eyebrow, “Are we? Because I don’t think we are. I thought we trusted each other.”

He said it calmly but he couldn’t shake the anxiety building within him at the fact that they were a little over 24 hours away from getting married and Dani looked like she might cry. Considering how few times he’d actually seen Dani cry, that fact especially worried him. He wondered if the pressure was finally getting to her. The pressure of dealing with him and everything he came with.

Dani sighed, backing away from him. She had to get some space. She didn’t want to voice the childish, insecure thoughts that had been running through her head since that God-forsaken charity gala. She didn’t want him to witness her weakness, “We do trust each other. It’s just…”

Malcolm hurriedly caught her hand, not allowing her to run. He had to know what was going on. If it was something he had done, something that needed fixing, he had to let her know that he would do it. Whatever it was.

As he wrapped an arm around Dani’s waist to steady her as she teetered a bit in her nude colored stilettos while trying to make her hasty exit, suddenly everything started to make sense. Malcolm had completely misread the situation. Dani’s trepidation had nothing to do with _his_ issues–not exactly.

–––––––––––––––

Malcolm turned her around to face him once again, cupping her chin, “Dani, you do realize you have nothing to prove, right?”

“Don’t I? I mean, I didn’t grow up where you did–the way you did. My family hasn’t been in New York since the turn of the nineteenth century or whatever it is your mom said. I know that every time she looks at me, she sees the ultimate way you’ve disappointed her. Marrying the girl from the wrong side of the city,” Dani said, unable to keep her voice steady and from cracking. Her frustration betrayed her. 

Dani hated showing this type of vulnerability. She hated showing anyone that she didn’t have it all together, even if it was the man she loved more than anything. She hated that she’d allowed Jessica Whitly to knock her off her game, to plant seeds of doubt in her head about Malcolm–about herself. At work and at home, it was easy to believe that she and Malcolm were off in their own world, until his mother had provided the reminder that they were in fact, worlds apart.

––––––––––––––––

Malcolm stared at his fiancée, heartbroken that she’d been carrying all of this inside, not feeling comfortable enough to tell him how she truly felt. Heartbroken that he’d had a hand in her feeling like this–like she didn’t belong when the only place _he’d_ ever felt like he truly belonged was by her side. 

He knew Dani didn’t trust easily and even though his mother had behaved pleasantly–as pleasant as she could manage–towards her since then, he could see that Dani hadn’t gotten over that initial meeting. The initial meeting he’d orchestrated badly. 

Dani looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to give her platitudes. Waiting for the “that’s not trues” and “she didn’t mean its” but he would be honest with her. The way she had been with him.

Malcolm gently placed his hands on the sides of her face, the way she always did to him when she wanted him to _really_ understand her, whenever he was doubting or second-guessing himself. Her touch anchored him to the present and he wanted his touch to do the same for her.

“Dani, none of that has ever mattered to me. I’ve never cared about where you’re from or where you grew up and even if I did, all those things make you who you are. The amazing, compassionate, loyal, brave woman I fell hopelessly and endlessly in love with. All of those things that make me unworthy of you.” Malcolm felt Dani’s arms wind around him, snaking inside of his suit coat as she pulled closer to him. Her eyes never left his for a moment. “I won’t lie to you and say that I’ve made all of the best choices, in fact most of the choices I’ve made up to this point have been _really_ bad but you’re the one thing I know for sure I got right.” 

Malcolm watched as all of the anxiety and apprehension drained from her beautiful brown eyes, replaced by a softness that he knew he couldn’t do without. A softness that had awakened something inside of him from the very first moment he’d brought her tea. 

Dani was so strong but he felt bad that he sometimes took her strength for granted. Even she needed reassurances from time to time. It wasn’t just him who had those needs. They were the same in that way.

Dani moved even closer, flush against him, resting her forehead against his. Her Dove soap scent filled his senses. “I’m sorry, Bright. It’s just sometimes when it’s just you and me, it’s easy to forget that it’s really not,” she murmured.

Malcolm could tell that admission had been hard for her but he didn’t want it to be. He always felt comfortable telling her everything even the ugly, shameful things he barely wanted to admit to himself. He wanted her to feel same the ease he did.

“It’s always gonna be just you and me. That’ll never change,” Malcolm smiled as his “never-better” but not currently shaky hand traveled slowly to her chest, resting just beneath her necklace, her heart–the heart he would always protect–beating steadily just beneath his palm. “Luckily for us, always begins tomorrow.”

–––––––––––––––––––

Jessica crossed the hall before going into her future daughter-in-law’s suite. She had decided the bridal party all stay at the Four Seasons in Midtown as it was closer to the Cathedral than the house was. She half expected to see her son sneaking out of the side door. She’d rolled her eyes at Malcolm pouting like a five year old at having to depart from his beloved police officer for a mere 12 hours. 

Jessica had watched Malcolm and Dani's lengthy goodbye. Their heads bent together, looking as though no one in the world existed beyond the two of them. She couldn’t hear what they were saying but she couldn’t miss the impossibly soft expression on her son’s face as he gazed at the young woman. An expression so soft, she hadn’t thought anyone who carried the last name of Whitly was even capable of making it. At that moment, Jessica was sure Malcolm would move heaven and earth for Dani, whether the young woman asked for it or not.

She remembered the way Malcolm had threatened to buy her out of her own building after the whole gala fiasco. The look in her son’s eyes told her he was deadly serious and that he would do it with no hesitation–the way he did most things.The fact that he _could_ do it is what had disturbed her. Her son was independently very well off. Both of her children had long received their trust funds and their inheritances from their grandparents. Malcolm and Ainsley could do whatever they wanted. In Malcolm’s case, Jessica knew he would do whatever _Dani_ wanted. 

She had been around her son and his fiancée enough to know that what they had together was something different entirely. She’d noticed that just last night at their rehearsal dinner. One couldn’t move without the other unconsciously adjusting accordingly. They operated on the same frequency. It was a strange sight to behold, leading Jessica to the realization that her son didn’t love in the same way she did. Malcolm didn’t love in the same way his father did–Martin couldn’t love at all. Malcolm didn’t even love in the same way Ainsley did. Seeing him around Dani, Jessica saw that Malcolm loved with a fullness and an innocence she didn’t know he'd still retained ever since witnessing his father being arrested in their foyer for murdering twenty-three people. 

Jessica remembered the day she went to the police station to make amends, the day she apologized for her behavior at the gala and Dani reassured her that she wouldn’t get in between her and her son. She’d believed the young woman but she also knew her son. Jessica wondered how long Malcolm would be content to ignore how uncomfortable his soon-to-be wife was around her. 

Malcolm and Dani dutifully attended her weekly dinners at the house. Dani smiled politely when spoken to but Jessica couldn’t help but notice Dani’s rigidity as she sat across from her. Her hands in her lap and her pretty face, the impassive mask Jessica had seen since the first moment she met her. Dani looked the exact same way at the dining room table as she had when she had been called over to investigate the Paul Lazar phone call. Jessica had hoped her apology would’ve earned her a bit of warmth from the young woman but it didn’t. 

––––––––––––––––––

As she entered Dani’s suite, Jessica was surprised to see Ainsley hurriedly exiting it, her daughter still in her pajamas and spa slippers. “Ainsley, what are you doing here?”

“Checking on Dani,” Anisley replied and Jessica’s eyes narrowed at the unspoken _duh_ left off the end of that sentence. “I had to make sure there weren’t any additional eyebags that needed concealing. You know she and Malcolm stayed up doing the whole ‘no _you_ hang up’ last night.”

“No, we didn’t!” Dani called from somewhere in the suite, sounding offended.

Ainsley snorted before ducking out the door, heading towards her suite across the hall where hair and makeup people awaited, “Whatever sis, you totally did.” 

Jessica wondered just when Ainsley and Dani had become so close. The warm way her daughter and future daughter-in-law had embraced at yesterday's rehearsal didn’t escape her notice. The two young women appeared friendly but as Jessica could see just now, they had actually become friends. 

Ainsley had been an integral part of the wedding planning and she knew they had Sunday Fundays–a ridiculous name for brunch in her opinion–that Jessica had never been invited to. Ainsley’s personality could be just as caustic as hers. Jessica wondered how her daughter had been able to get close to the guarded detective and she hadn’t. That realization had a surprising effect on her–it stung.

Jessica honestly didn’t want Dani to dislike her and she certainly didn’t want to lose her son, that was why she wanted to sit down with the young woman before they officially became family. She wanted to truly clear the air.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Danika, my goodness, you look lovely.” She said as she walked into the bedroom area of the suite where assistants were milling about making sure Dani’s elaborate couture wedding dress looked flawless. 

Dani turned around, from her place at the writing desk that had been turned into a makeshift vanity, still in her fluffy white hotel robe. Her curly hair had been straightened and fastened into a messy bun. Wispy tendrils of dark hair framed her freshly made up face. Dani normally kept her makeup simple and she had declined any makeup artists, preferring to do it herself. Keeping in line with her preference of bold brows, light coverage foundation and rosy cheeks, Jessica thought Dani looked like a living doll.

“Thank you, Mrs. Whitly. Is everything okay?,” Dani smiled politely as she always did. As Jessica moved a chair to sit in front of Dani, she noticed how the young woman immediately sat up straighter, her delicate hands running up and down her robe.

“Of course, dear. Why ever would it not be? I just came to talk.” It hurt a bit to see Dani’s eyes dart toward the doorway for a split second–clearly looking for an escape before her face settled back into the polite, impassive mask. “What? Did you think I came here to bribe you not to go through with it?”

Jessica meant it as a joke but seeing as how Dani did not crack a smile, she realized that was exactly what the young woman thought. Apparently, Dani really did believe her behavior at the gala had been personal and Jessica knew immediately that she had to set things right–for real this time.

––––––––––––––

Jessica reached for Dani’s hand, the one that held her son’s ring, “I know we didn’t get off to the best start but I want to formally apologize for how I treated you then. I made you feel unwelcome and that was wrong of me, especially when I see how you feel about my son.”

Dani nodded, “I already accepted your apology, Mrs. Whity. I don’t have anything against you.”

Jessica smiled a bit, “Perhaps not but I can tell you’d rather be anywhere but sitting here at this moment.” She watched as Dani’s impassive mask started to slip. Dani looked as through she were carefully selecting the right words to say until finally deciding to settle on honesty.

Dani sighed, “You’re right. I don’t wanna be sitting here because Mrs. Whitly, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust that you like me. I don’t trust that you want me to be apart of your family. Trust isn’t something I do. Bright is the first person I’ve trusted in a very long time but he earned that. I can’t even trust that you won’t be trying to set him up with other girls behind my back.”

Dani knew that she probably shouldn’t have said any of this to her soon to be mother-in-law especially a mother-in-law like Jessica Whitly but after talking to Malcolm yesterday, she was tired of being scared and intimidated. That wasn’t her. She was from the Bronx after all. She didn’t get to where she was by being scared of anyone.

“That’s fair and I understand where you’re coming from,” Jessica said, her hand squeezing Dani’s. “ _I’d_ like the chance to earn your trust, if you’d allow it.”

“I think I can do that,” Dani said, clearly surprised at the turn this conversation had taken. If Malcolm’s mother was willing to give her a chance, she was willing to do the same in return. Though she couldn’t promise that she’d ever trust the Whitly matriarch, Dani would do her best not to outright dislike her.

“Also I promise my days of playing matchmaker are over. My son has already met his perfect match,” Jessica smiling fully, answering Dani’s willingness to spend more time together. To actually get to know each other. “You know, the two of you together is really unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. When did you realize you had feelings for Malcolm?”

Jessica hoped she didn’t sound as though she were being interrogatory, she was simply curious. This was the first time she’d really sat down with Dani alone and it wasn’t as though Malcolm actually talked about _his_ feelings with her. She was relieved that Dani didn’t appear to take it in that way. In fact, it pleased Jessica to note that this was the most relaxed Dani had ever been around her.

“Um…my feelings for Bright were always kinda confusing. For the longest time, I didn’t even know what they were. I just knew that I had to protect him.” Jessica watched the softness overtake Dani’s features at her recollection. A fondness stirred within her at hearing how Dani had wanted to keep Malcolm safe, something she hadn’t even been able to do. “I don’t think I really understood how much he meant to me until I almost lost him. You remember the Watkins thing?”

Jessica barked a humorless laugh, “How could I forget?” 

Jessica remembered how Malcolm had gone missing for nearly 24 hours, only to be held and tortured deep underneath their home in a place she presumed her husband used to keep his victims. She remembered her daughter bleeding from the head, barely conscious. She remembered John Watkins coming for them with an axe. Being married to The Surgeon, Jessica had known fear and she'd known pain but she hadn't known anything comparable to the feeling of knowing that both of her children were almost certainly going to die.

She remembered her son–terrible and beautiful–appearing like an avenging angel with an axe of his own ready and willing to protect his family. She'd been grateful that they all emerged alive–whole but it had been the single worst day of her life. 

Dani smiled sadly, “I know the feeling. I just remember not knowing where he was and how _sick_ it made me. I didn't know I was falling in love with him, I just knew I felt my world crash down around me when I went to that cabin and he wasn't there..." Her voice trailed off, the emotion clogging her throat making it hard to continue.

Jessica's heart softened toward the young woman. They hadn't gotten off to the best start and that had been largely her fault. She'd resented Dani for her influence over her son–for his willingness always to put the woman he probably always knew he'd marry first but just then Jessica realized exactly why her son had fallen so very hard for the statuesque brunette. It was far more than her delicate beauty or because she solved murders for a living. It was the depth of _feeling_ Dani had for him. Love hadn't always been something that was readily offered and expressed to her son–that is until he met the young woman sitting in front of her. He deserved someone who loved him for all that he was and never sought to change him–something she herself hadn't always done. 

Jessica then thought about the necklace in her purse. After the rehearsal dinner, she knew she had to do something to better make amends with Dani. She went back to the house to retrieve a gift that she hoped would smooth things over with her son’s fiancée. It was an old diamond and sapphire necklace that had belonged to her mother, Elizabeth Milton.

Her mother had left a multitude of jewelry behind after her death. A lot of it had gone to Ainsley over the years for birthdays and graduations but there were still several pieces left in the safe and Jessica had originally decided last night to give this particular piece to Dani as a peace offering but now, it was even more imperative that she have it.

Reaching into her bag, she slowly presented a polished wooden box to a young woman she had severely misjudged, a young woman who was now forever in her debt, “I’d like you to have this.”

Jessica watched Dani gasp as she opened the box, taking in the incredibly elaborate gift, “Mrs. Whitly, I can’t accept this.”

Jessica grinned, “It’s something blue though it’s not borrowed. It’s yours. It was my mother’s, I want you have it and I think she would too. You know, one Milton woman to another.”

At that, Jessica received the first ever genuine smile from her daughter-in-law.

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	2. The Bones

Malcolm stood at the end of the incredibly long aisle trying not fidget with his sharp black double-breasted suit coat. He’d heard from Ainsley that Dani had decided to choose something a little different for her dress and he decided to follow suit. His mother had suggested a tuxedo with tails, something he’d dismissed instantly as it was ridiculous. 

The proceedings were right on time. Malcolm was just incredibly anxious to get this all started. To see Dani. To make what he’d been dreaming about for so long a reality. 

As the he heard the opening strains of the Ave Maria, the doors to the church slowly opened, illuminating the rather dim white rose covered space. Malcolm had known anxiety and nerves for as long as he could remember but the butterfly sensation threatening to overtake him was something new entirely. He watched as Gil slowly made his way down the aisle with Dani on his right arm. Dani had no family of her own who could do the honors so they’d both asked Gil, who’d been touched at such an offer. Dani and Gil had a relationship that wasn’t unlike the one he had with his boss.

As they got closer, Malcolm felt his heart stop then rapidly start again at the sight of the woman who was soon to be his wife. She wore an elaborate ballgown of the palest pink tone imaginable, the voluminous skirt appeared to made of thousands upon thousands of silk roses with a delicate, sheer train that appeared to stretch on for miles. Her face was partially obscured by a veil the same color as the dress. 

When Dani had mentioned living in a fairytale a few weeks ago, he’d rejected such a thing but now he understood. As of right now, he felt as though he were living in one too. Dani looked as if she’d stepped out of every storybook he’d ever read as a child. A beautiful princess for the undeserving prince of darkness.

After what seemed like an eternity, Gil and Dani made their way to him. Malcolm smiled at the pride shining in the older man’s eyes. The man who’d protected and cared for him ever since he was 10 years old. The man who had shaped him into the person he was today–a person who would someday be worthy of a woman like Dani. The man who loved him like a son.

Gil gently unhooked Dani’s arm from his and placed her small hand in Malcolm’s. With Dani now facing him, his hands trembled a bit as he slowly lifted her veil. 

“Hi, Bright,” Dani whispered, her radiant smile piercing his heart in the sweetest way imaginable. The diamond he had placed on her finger so many months ago couldn’t compete with the sparkle in her big brown eyes. Her beauty left him speechless and he couldn’t believe that she was his.

“Hi, Dani,” He whispered back, unable to hide the emotion closing his throat.

––––––––––––––––––

Though they’d rehearsed all of this yesterday, Malcolm still had to force himself not behave anxiously as the priest very slowly went through all of the rituals before the Rite of Marriage. He must’ve not been doing a very good job of it judging by the high browed look his mother shot him from the front pew. Malcolm clasped his hands together, mostly to keep them steady and to not unconsciously reach for Dani as it wasn’t the time for that yet.

Dani smiled knowingly, the devotion in her deep brown eyes letting him know that she was here and she would always be here. Reassurances that had gotten him through some of his darkest moments.

“Malcolm Douglas and Danika Katheryn, have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?” The gray haired priest asked them soberly.

“I have.” They responded in unison. Malcolm forced himself to remain stoic, not allowing his restlessness to control him, knowing that they were getting closer. He wished that he could reach for Dani. He took a small sideways glance at her. His soon-to-be wife was the picture of serenity in her gown of endless pale pink roses and layers. 

“Since it is your intention to enter the covenant of Holy Matrimony, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.” Malcolm sighed, finally comforted that he was able to touch her again but also wondering why exactly he’d agreed to such drawn out proceedings. Had they gone to Vegas, this would’ve all been done ages ago. Dani discreetly squeezed his hand, anchoring him, knowing exactly how he was feeling.

Turning to Dani, he said the words he knew by heart. The words he felt with all his heart. The words he never thought he’d ever get a chance to say and certainly not to the woman before him, “I, Malcolm, take you, Dani to be my wife I promise to be faithful to you, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love you and to honor you all the days of my life.”

Beaming, Dani answered him with her own vows, her voice much steadier than his had been but he didn’t miss the emotion dripping from it. Malcolm honestly couldn’t believe that they’d made it here after everything they’d been through, after the copious amounts of pain and trauma and loss.

He’d finally done it. He’d married a woman who’d somehow become his best friend and the love of his life. He’d wanted a shot at normal but he’d gotten so much more. He was grateful he hadn’t settled for less, that he was too stubborn and selfish to deny himself the one thing he’d always needed.

Malcolm remembered falling apart on the precinct floor, surrounded by old case files. Feeling hopeless. Feeling like that nothing he did would ever be good enough. Feeling like _he_ would never be good enough. But Dani had been there. She’d believed in him when he hadn’t been able to believe in himself. Malcolm had spent his entire life feeling cursed as though he were constantly repenting for having the immense misfortune of being sired by The Surgeon but on today, he realized that he must’ve done something right. He had said as much just yesterday.

–––––––––––––––––

After arriving at the stately ancient stone manor house just outside of the city, the place his mother had selected for their reception. They were instantly accosted by said mother, pushing them in the direction of the photographer at the front steps of the house.

“So Detective Powell, I have one question for you.” Malcolm’s hand rested on Dani’s hip as flashbulbs went off from the corner of his eye, his fingers gently running along the delicate texture of her dress. He brought her left hand to his face, lovingly brushing his lips against the coolness of her two rings. “Are you taken?”

Amusement and joy sparkled in Dani’s beautiful brown eyes. “You tell me,” she answered, covering his lips in laughter.

–––––––––––––––––––

“So this is different,” Malcolm said as Dani rejoined him in the hallway of the manor, her arms wrapping around his neck. The second they’d finished with the photos, his mother and sister as well as a small army of assistants hustled Dani into nearby room for a dress change.

This new dress was the complete opposite of the one she’d worn at the ceremony. This dress was simple, strapless and white. The elegant, slinky silhouette clinging to her petite frame. The starkness of the dress drew his eye to the diamond and sapphire necklace resting in the center of her chest. The teardrop shaped pendant was as big as his thumbnail and he realized that he’d seen this particular necklace before, though not personally. His grandmother wore it in a portrait hanging in the drawing room of his family home. That necklace could’ve only come from his mother and he knew there had to be a story behind it. Though that story could wait for another time.

“Apparently two wedding dresses are a thing,” Dani replied, her hands traveling up to his face, enjoying the friction of his rough stubble beneath her fingers. She was grateful for the relative privacy they had. Dani knew it would be minutes before they would be ushered into what had been turned into a ballroom, over two hundred well-wishers descending upon them. They had no friends outside of the team but somehow most of Manhattan happened to be in attendance.

“Well, this one will be easier to take off,” her new husband smirked, a roguish glint in his ice blue eyes as his fingers lightly ran down the buttons that held the dress together.

“ _Bright!_ ” she scolded playfully, shaking her head. “What am I even gonna do with you?”

His cheeky smirk stretched further across his impossibly handsome face, “I can think of a few things.”

“Lovebirds, can you stop flirting for a second. It’s time to make your entrance, then its your first dance and then the removal of the garter,” their wedding planner who had been instantly demoted to Jessica’s assistant informed them. 

Malcolm perked up a bit at that last one, “Well, this day just keeps getting better and better.”  


Dani snorted. _Of course, Bright would find that exciting_. 

––––––––––––––––––

Malcolm spun Dani around to the sound of a bluesy, almost hymnal that decidedly wasn’t the Jessie Ware ballad she thought they’d decided on for their first dance as husband and wife. The one that never failed to remind her of her relationship with Malcolm, the one they’d had from the beginning. She looked up at him questioningly until she heard the lyrics:

_Been traveling these wide roads for so long_  
_My heart's been far from you_  
_Ten-thousand miles gone_  
_Oh, I wanna come near and give you_  
_Every part of me_  
_But there's blood on my hands_  
_And my lips aren't clean_

He didn’t answer her but he didn’t have to. His nearly translucent eyes told her everything. Dani knew exactly why Malcolm had chosen this particular song. Leon Bridges’s soulful, plaintive voice filled the ballroom. Everyone’s eyes were on them but she didn’t care, Dani reached up, tipping his chin towards her.

Dani kissed her husband slowly and deeply, infusing him with the promise of a new beginning. A story only they knew the words to. Their own fairytale.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I did the most but this is the result of lots headcanons and brainstorming with @2amEuphoria. Dani's wedding dresses are references to gowns from Monique Lhullier's Fall 2020 collection. The songs I referenced are "The Bones" by Maren Morris & Hozier, "Say You Love Me" by Jessie Ware and "River" by Leon Bridges


End file.
